In February 2005, a full five years after its
release, Sacagawea Dollar patterns have been discovered in the
hands of lucky collectors. This amazing discovery has been found
in what was formerly known as Cheerios Dollars. The term "amazing discovery" may be an
understatement. Even the people at NGC state: "This
is unquestionably one of the most intriguing new finds in the
annals of modern coinage. The fact that they are just now being
recognized, five years after their release, is surprising to many
experts."

The wing and tail feathers on the Pattern
Dollars are more defined than on the coins released into
circulation. The tail feathers exhibit detailed veins as well as
a raised central shaft on the center feather. On the coins
struck for circulation, the details on the feathers have been
smoothed down and the shaft on the central feather is incused.
In order to distinguish between the two types, William (Bill) T.
Gibbs coined the term "Reverse of 1999" for the
Pattern/Cheerios Dollars and the term "Reverse of 2000"
for the regular issue dollars. Click HERE to see a side-by-side comparison of the entire reverses
of the "Reverse of 1999" and the "Reverse of
2000" pieces (Photo courtesy
of NGC).

The reason for the change on the coins struck
for circulation is explained by reverse designer Tom Rogers in an
interview he had with Tom DeLorey on June 3, 2005. Tom DeLorey
writes: "He (Rogers) said that the design change
in the tail feathers was made very late in the design process,
probably in late October, though he would have to check his
notebook to be sure. Business strike production began Nov. 18th
or 19th. The reason for the change was to make the tail feathers
appear lighter in color, compared to the body of the eagle. An
eagle's tail feathers are white. He said the original trial
strikes made them look too brown. He smoothed down the lines that
stick out at a 45 degree angle from the veins, and then somebody
told him to replace the raised vein in the middle feather with a
recessed one so it wouldn't stand out by itself."

The total number of these coins that were
struck is unknown. However, the number of these coins that can
potentially be in collector's hands is 5,500. That is the number
of "Cheerios Dollars" released in cereal boxes.
Undoubtedly, many of the "Cheerios Dollars" were opened
and spent, or thrown in a drawer and forgotten about, making them
VERY hard to come by.

These pieces were listed for the first time in
the 60th Edition (2007) of A Guide Book of United States
Coins (aka "The Redbook") by R. S. Yeoman.
They are also listed in the Cherrypickers' Guide To Rare
Die Varieties Of United States Coins, Fourth Edition
Volume II, by Bill Fivaz & J. T. Stanton, where they are
described as "Enhanced Reverse Die" and numbered
FS-C1-2000P-901.

When
purchasing a "Cheerios Dollar" still in its
original holder, it would prudent to remember that not
all "Cheerios Dollars" are the "Reverse of
1999" pattern. It would also be possible for an
unscrupulous person to place a regular Sacagawea Dollar
in a Cheerios package so be sure to check the package for
signs of tampering. Since the reverse of the Dollar is
not visible when still in an original Cheerios package,
it would be helpful to have a die marker on the obverse
that would identify a "Reverse of 1999".

Tom DeLorey has identified such a
marker. He noticed it while examining three of the coins
- two in NGC slabs and one still in the original Cheerios
holder. Tom says, "Having the
two slabbed pieces side by side, I noticed some die
polish coming out into the field from her coat
immediately below the P mint mark! Now that we knew
what to look for, we could see it on the one still in the
original plastic as well. It is faint, but there. This
should be usable as a diagnostic to determine that other
pieces still in the original plastic are from the pattern
die pair!"

As Tom said, "it is faint",
but it can be seen with a 5X glass if you tilt the coin
just right under good lighting. To date, this marker has
been seen on all "Reverse of 1999" Sacagawea
Dollars examined. This obverse die marker can be a
helpful tool in determining if a Cheerios Dollar that is
still in the original package is the "Reverse of
1999" or not, however, NOTHING takes the
place of seeing the reverse so you can be 100% certain
that you're getting the coin you expect.

HERE'S HOW THIS
DISCOVERY CAME ABOUT
A FULL FIVE YEARS AFTER ITS RELEASE

In the Fall of 1999, noted numismatist Tom
DeLorey had an opportunity to examine test strikings of the
Sacagawea dollar at a press conference held in Chicago on October
20, 1999. He made a mental note of the coins detail, paying
particular attention to the details of the Eagle's tail feathers
on the reverse. Read his account of the story HERE. It should be noted at this point that Tom was
admittedly incorrectly calling the coins he saw in Chicago
"12 Tail Feathers", thinking that the coins struck for
circulation had been changed to exhibit "13 Tail
Feathers". However, in his recent (Spring 2005) discussions
with reverse designer Tom Rogers, it is now understood that the
Eagle has always exhibited 12 tail feathers and it's their
appearance that has been altered.

When the Sacagawea Dollar
was released for circulation in January 2000, Tom
immediately noticed that the detail of the Eagle's tail
feathers had been modified. Checking all of the other
specially released Sacagawea Dollars and finding nothing,
Tom theorized that the Cheerios
Dollars could possibly be the
Sacagawea Dollar pattern that he had seen earlier. Tom
had a hunch that since General Mills had to have the
coins in their hands in the Fall of 1999 in order to have
them placed in holders, put in cereal boxes, and
distributed to grocers by early 2000, they may just be
the elusive pattern. The problem was that the Cheerios
Dollars were in a holder that prevented the reverse from
being seen without removing the coin. Although rarely
offered for sale, Cheerios Dollars were selling in the
range of $125-$175 when offered, and removing one from
its holder would destroy the value if it turned out to be
a common struck-for-circulation coin.

A CHEERIOS DOLLAR AND CENT
IN THEIR ORIGINAL HOLDER

The only hope of checking the reverse of a
Cheerios Dollar, without destroying its value, was to find one
that had been placed into a third party grading service's holder.
After Tom contacted me and told me about his hunch, I joined the
search. In early 2005 I came in contact with collector Pat
Braddick. He had one that had been placed in an ANACS holder.
Immediately upon checking his coin, Pat knew it was different.
Pat took his coin to NGC at the Long Beach (California) Coin Show
in February 2005. NGC joined forces with Tom DeLorey to do
exhaustive research on the piece and determined that this piece
is indeed the Sacagawea Dollar pattern that Tom had seen in
October 1999.

Thanks to Tom's keen eye and persistent
searching, this coin has become a major collectible in
numismatics. Without Tom, it would've been a long time, if ever,
before it would have been discovered.

The "Discovery Specimen" sold
on March 9, 2007 for a cool $9,000 to a North East
Collector. Included in the sale was an NGC Photo
Proof made specifically for
this coin and newspaper articles written at the time of
the discovery.

CHEERIOS CENT AND DOLLAR IN AN NGC
MULTI-COIN HOLDER

Cheerios Dollar in a PCGS holder.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HANY ABDELSAYED

PRICES REALIZED OF
KNOWN SALES/AUCTIONS

If you were lucky enough to find a "Cheerios" Dollar in
a box of Cheerios cereal when they were first released in January
2000, it's a pretty sure bet that you had no idea of how valuable
they would eventually become. In fact, many were probably ripped
from their package and spent. In the five years before the
discovery of the variety now known as "Reverse of
1999", very few were offered for sale publicly. Since so few
were offered for sale, a set price was never established. When
one did appear, they sold in the wide price range of $50 to $175,
with the majority of pieces selling in the $125 to $135 range.
When the variety was first reported in June 2005, prices
immediately shot up. Overnight they began selling in the $2500 to
$6000 range, with most selling between $3500 and $4500. Prices
skyrocketed in the Spring of 2007, due in part to very few pieces
being found since the discovery two years earlier. It all started
with the sale of the "Discovery Specimen" on March 9,
2007 for $9,000. Below are the prices realized of the pieces sold
since that fateful sale of the "Discovery Specimen".

PRICE REALIZED

DATE SOLD

GRADE/
CERTIFICATE #

AUCTION

ADDITIONAL INFO

$34,500.00*

8/01/08

PCGS MS68
147231.68/11901856

Heritage
Auction

$29,900.00*

5/30/08

PCGS MS68
147231.68/11901855

Heritage
Auction

$23,000.00*

3/06/08

PCGS MS68
147231.68/11941428

Heritage
Auction

$20,000.00

12/24/08

PCGS MS68
147231.68/13530070

eBay

$12,500.00

12/2/07

ICG MS67

Teletrade

$11,500.00*

2/15/08

PCGS MS67
147231.67/11965349

Heritage
Auction

$11,500.00*

8/10/07

PCGS MS67
147321.67/13887409

Heritage Auction

$11,000.00

8/17/07

ANACS MS68

eBay

$10,925.00*

$9,200.00*1

8/01/08

10/24/08

PCGS MS67
147231.67/11514705

Heritage Auction

Heritage Auction

$10,350.00*

$5462.50*1

8/01/08

10/24/08

PCGS MS67
147231.67/12133964

Heritage Auction

Heritage Auction

$9,999.99

10/15/07

PCGS MS66
147231.66/13179862

eBay

$9,000.00

3/9/07

NGC MS66
2117946-001

eBay ("Buy It Now")

"Discovery Specimen"

$8,194.90*

9/19/08

PCGS MS67
147231.67/11445946

Heritage
Auction

$7,762.50*

4/30/09

PCGS MS68
147231.68/14111890

Heritage
Auction

$5,175.00*

4/30/09

PCGS MS66
147231.66/14111891

Heritage
Auction

$4,500.00

5/19/08

NGC MS63
2525076-001

eBay

* Includes 15% buyers fee.1 Two or more listings in the same row indicates
multiple sales of the same coin.

A previously known, but
unacknowledged, Cheerios Dollar without the
"pattern" reverse was given more credibility
when a second one was certified by NGC in April 2008. The
first piece, in a PCI holder (below), was known as early
as 2005. However, due to the problems that PCI was
having, no one took it seriously at the time. Fast
forward to April 2008 when a collector, who wishes to
remain anonymous, owned not one, but two Cheerios Dollars
in their original Cheerios packaging. The owner states, "I
got one of the two coins out of a box of Cheerios and
bought the other one at a flea market back in 2001-2002
and they have been sitting in my dresser drawer ever
since until I found out what they might be worth."Deciding to capitalize on them, he sent
both to NGC for authentication and grading. Upon their
return he was surprised to find that one was not labeled
as a "Pattern" as the other one was. Checking
the reverse he found that it did in fact not exhibit the detailed
tail feathers as the
"pattern" piece did. Concerned if a
"non-pattern" Cheerios Dollar was possible or
was previously known to exist, the collector contacted
this web site. We in turn contacted accomplished
numismatist Tom DeLorey, who was instrumental in the
original discovery of the Cheerios "Pattern"
Dollar. Being as surprised as we were, Mr. DeLorey
contacted NGC to verify the piece. In response NGC said, "The
report that you received is entirely factual. NGC did
receive a Cheerios dollar in original packaging and the
coin was not the pattern reverse. This was confirmed by
Rick Montgomery and Dave Camire. Dave Camire, in fact,
opened the packaging."

PCI
NON-PATTERN CHEERIOS DOLLARPHOTO COURTESY OF
DAVE SILVER

These coins received
even more credence when PCGS
announced on May 16, 2008 that
they too had opened an original, untampered Cheerios
package that contained a "non-pattern" Cheerios
Dollar. PCGS also reported that they only apply "the
'Cheerios' designation to Sacagawea Dollars with the
Reverse of 1999" and that they are not
"obligated to designate any Dollar as a 'Cheerios'
Dollar simply because it came out of a sealed Cheerios
package".

In early June 2008 Tom DeLorey had the
opportunity to examine one of the "non-pattern"
Cheerios Dollars first hand. About the coin he examined
he reports, "The NGC 'Cheerios' dollar I
examined was struck from a well-worn pair of regular
production dies that had struck many, many thousands of
coins before this one. There is absolutely no suggestion
that it is from any sort of special production run
executed to provide coins specifically for General Mills.
It looks like any other business strike released in
calendar year 2000."

WOW!!! The Sacagawea Dollar series
never ceases to amaze. Years after their release, new
discoveries keep popping up. How could this one have
happen? Mr. DeLorey has come up with a possible scenario.
Keep in mind that this scenario is pure speculation.
We'll probably never know for sure how a
"non-pattern" coin was placed in a Cheerios
package. Mr. DeLorey writes: "Possible scenario:
the Mint strikes approximately 5,500 dollars from the
pattern dies and send them to General Mills. They package
them, and find that some coins were damaged or
otherwise spoiled during packaging. Let's guess and
say they have 5,400 good ones. They've got enough
ready to start stuffing cereal boxes, but because they
are obligated to award 5,500 coins (it says so right
there on 10 million pre-printed boxes) they have to ask
the Mint for a hundred (or whatever) more. This second
shipment is filled with coins from the new dies being
used to mass produce coins for the Wal-Mart rollout.
Remember, nobody outside the engraving department knows
that a change was made, and the engraving department did
not know that 5,500 coins had been sent out early before
the change (per my conversation with Tom Rogers).
The extra coins get packaged and distributed."

Another thought. Not many of the
Cheerios Dollars are in numismatist's hands. That number
is around 1% to 2% of total number placed in Cheerios
boxes. It is generally accepted that a large portion of
the "unfound" pieces were either ripped from
their package and spent, or are lying around in a dresser
drawer somewhere totally forgotten about. If any of the
"non-pattern" pieces were taken from the
Cheerios package and spent, they are now totally lost to
the numismatic community since they are indistinguishable
from a normal Sacagawea Dollar.

OTHER ARTICLES

FROM NGC'S WEBSITE:"On Monday, June 20, 2005, NGC certified a
pattern 2000-P Sacagawea Dollar struck from dies made with
experimental hubs. While similar to the final design, the
reverses eagle device shows considerably greater detail
than that seen on circulation and proof issues struck from the
adopted dies and is very easy to identify. The story of this coin
is emerging as one of the most fascinating numismatic discoveries
to come to light in some time, as this coin can be distinguished
from virtually every other pattern coin of the twentieth century
in an important way  a relatively large number of 5,500
were produced and then dispersed through non-numismatic
channels."

From ABOUT.COM:COINS:
PCGS had an interesting article in their eCollector newsletter
yesterday regarding the submission of a Cheerios Dollar that
turned out to be struck from normal dies, rather than struck from
the pattern dies that experts once thought all of the Cheerios
Dollars were struck from.